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The mystery of how exactly the pyramids were built may have been discovered after a team of archaeologists made a fortuitous discovery in an ancient Egyptian quarry.
Scientists looking for ancient inscriptions found themselves on a ramp with stairs and a series of what they thought were poleholes, suggesting that the work of setting up huge blocks of stone used to build the monuments was completed faster than expected.
While the theory that ancient Egyptians used ramps to move stones has already been advanced, the structure discovered by the Anglo-French team, which dates back to roughly the time of the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza, is much steeper than before. supposed possible.
They believe that the inclusion of steps and pole holes located on either side of a ramp suggests that builders were able to fire on both sides, instead of just hanging a block behind them . The team believes that the people below the block would have used the poles to create a system of pulleys while the ones above it were shooting simultaneously.
They feel that the discovery is important because it suggests that the work could have been done more quickly, even if it still involved the hard work of a large number of people.
"The system we discovered would allow more people to exercise their strength at the same time. This means that you would be able to exercise more strength and move the blocks faster, "said Dr. Roland Enmarch, a lecturer in Egyptology at the University of London. Liverpool and the co-director of the project that made the discovery, the Hatnub Survey.
He told the Guardian that his colleagues, including his fellow director, Dr. Yannis Gourdon of the French Institute of Oriental Archeology (IFAO), intended to publish their findings in a peer-reviewed journal in the near future. The discovery was made at the end of September, which means it has not been possible yet.
He added that the alabaster quarry itself, as well as the inscriptions they studied, had been known to Egyptologists for a long time, after being discovered by Howard Carter, the discoverer of Tutankhamen's tomb.
The team initially focused not on the career ramp, but on the documentation of the listings found. But their attention was soon drawn to the construction of the old – and what it could say about the construction of the pyramids.
They said the inscriptions allowed them to date the ramp about the time of Pharaoh Khufu, or Cheops, who had built the Great Pyramid. Although there is no evidence that the method was used to construct this monument, Enmarch stated that it was reasonable to suggest that this would have been the case if the technique had been used in the past. Egypt at the time.
